play – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
96.1 FM | 780 AM | Yours for Western AlaskaSat, 10 Dec 2016 00:42:40 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7http://www.knom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-KNOM-K-Logo-512px-square-32x32.jpgplay – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
323259285469The Importance… of Giving Backhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/05/27/the-importance-of-giving-back/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/05/27/the-importance-of-giving-back/#commentsWed, 27 May 2015 19:10:33 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=16562It was a proud moment both for the Nome community and for KNOM early last month, as a local theatre production brought a few of our full-time volunteers into the arts scene of our region — and brought a taste of 1890s England to 2010s Alaska.]]>

It was a proud moment both for the Nome community and for KNOM early last month, as a local theatre production brought a few of our full-time volunteers into the arts scene of our region — and brought a taste of 1890s England to 2010s Alaska.

In May, the Nome Arts Council presented three showings of the Oscar Wilde comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. As you may have read in a few of the ongoing web posts of our volunteers, the show featured KNOMers both on-stage and off.

KNOM community deejay Marjorie Tahbone and Nome’s Erin Lillie perform a scene during this spring’s community performance of The Importance of Being Earnest.

First-year volunteer Courtney Cousins and community volunteer Marjorie Tahbone, whose voices are well-known to KNOM listeners (as the hosts of our Late Afternoon Show and Wednesday’s Alianait Radio, respectively) held leading roles as Wilde’s characters Cecily Cardew and Gwendolyn Fairfax. They’re pictured above and below. Fellow KNOMers Jenn Ruckel, Francesca Fenzi, Kristin Leffler, and David Dodman helped out behind-the-scenes: whether by painting sets, producing sound effect or music cues, or other logistics.

We thought you might enjoy knowing that these already-talented KNOMers found new ways to entertain and engage our community this spring — with a lot of hard work, of course, and a little help from Oscar Wilde.

It’s but the latest example of service to our community continuing even outside of the studio.

KNOMers Marjorie and Courtney share the stage during a scene from Earnest.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/05/27/the-importance-of-giving-back/feed/216562All-Nome Cast in ‘Earnest’ Performance this Weekendhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/05/01/earnest/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/05/01/earnest/#commentsFri, 01 May 2015 19:46:05 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=16178The all-Nome cast performs Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m., with a matinee Sunday at 2 p.m.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/05/2015-05-01-Earnest.mp3

Starting Friday night and through the weekend, the Nome Arts Council is bringing together a group of amateur actors to put on “a trivial comedy for serious people:” Oscar Wilde’s famous play “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Despite practicing for months, the cast of the famous “comedy about manners” had some trouble explaining what it’s all about.

“It’s about a couple of friends,” said co-star Erin Lillie, who plays Jack, “whose identities are not what they claim them to be…”

“As we get into it we learn that Earnest may be more than one person,” said KNOM’s Courtney Cousins, whose character Cecily is among a pair who falls for a character named Earnest, “and more than one person may be engaged to Earnest.”

“This whole time, their names really aren’t Earnest, but that’s really the main reason why they wanted to marry Earnest, because his name was Earnest,” added Marjorie Tahbone, who plays Gwendolyn, another character who’s fallen for the titular Earnest.

Sally Kinzel, playing Miss Prism, summarized the play thematically. “It’s the importance of being not only yourself, but being honest about who you are,” she said.

Jake Kenick, playing Algernon, described the play in character: purely as it relates to him. “He’s a little flashy, a little arrogant, a little full of himself.” He paused. “It was a real stretch for me to reach for that character.”

“I really don’t know what this play is about, to tell you the truth,” Lillie admitted.

The all-Nome cast in the “comedy about manners” also features Bill Doughty, Sam Cross, and Chad Callahan.

The production is directed Kevin Keith, who said that even though the play was written more than 100 years ago, like all good plays, what it’s really about is why it’s timeless.

“It was written in the 1890s, so it takes place in Victorian England,” Keith began. “Oscar Wilde [was] very much commenting on the society of his time, and a lot of the hypocrisy, and the way we have to behave that is maybe not truthful but perhaps makes our interactions with other human beings more smooth.”

He reflected that even if “we think things back then were so different, and a lot of things were, but the basic social commentary still holds true today.”

Some of that commentary is delivered by a character played by a longtime pillar of Nome’s theater scene, Richard Beneville, who plays Lady Bracknell.

“‘A gorgon of the sternest sort,’” Beneville laughs, adopting a stiff British accent will rolling Rs. “She’s a pill! She is the maven of society and everything that is proper, and all of this, hello central!”

Beneville has worked with the Nome Arts Council to put on shows for more than thirty years. For the first time in decades, he’s stepping on stage to take on a major role.

“I’ve directed the plays but I’ve not been in ‘em … But this role, and this play, the Importance of Being Earnest, I can’t tell you, I am so stoked!”

He added quietly, “I can’t remember my lines, but I’m stoked!”

The show primaries Friday, May 1, at Nome Elementary at 7 p.m., with an encore performance Saturday at 7 p.m. and a matinee show Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 dollars for adults, $5 dollars for youth and elders. Admission to the Saturday show is free of charge due to sponsorship from Wells Fargo.

I was born with brown hair, but did I really inherit my stubbornness from my Mom, and my sense of humor from my Dad? Is my personality the result of my genes, or just living with my family my whole life? I love thinking about this, because I always find a way to make both arguments.

Case in point: I have performance anxiety. Speaking in front of groups makes my heart pound, and my hands shake a little bit. Sometimes my voice gets squeaky or I break a sweat or this buzzing noise fills my ears. It happens mostly when I’m singled out for attention, when I know people are listening to me, evaluating what I’m saying.

We could find a pattern if we wanted to. Trace a shy little girl who hides behind her mother’s legs to the adolescent who spends too much time reading and not enough talking to the other kids on the bus. See her suffer through mandatory Speech class in high school, and if you can stand it, watch that horrendous improv audition for a high school play. (It’s still the stuff of my nightmares.) It’s nature, right? She’s an introvert, type-A personality. She made some valiant efforts, but she’s just not the type to stand in a spotlight.

I thought that a lot over the years. I still do, usually on karaoke night as Kristin harasses everyone into singing with her (in the friendliest way possible).

But that doesn’t explain how I got cast as Cecily in the Art Council’s upcoming production of “The Importance of Being Earnest.” It doesn’t explain why I decided a few months ago that auditioning would be fun instead of terrifying. Or how I showed up to auditions last week a little giddy, not even nervous, and had a marvelous time bantering and preening. Or why I’m now sitting next to a script, contemplating the months ahead with excitement.

I’m still an introvert. I don’t care for talking to groups, and I’ll always like writing better. But it turns out that I might not mind so much talking in front of groups, especially when it isn’t my own words on the chopping block. The spotlight might be a little bit fun.

As I wrote this, I remembered something else: In elementary school, I memorized and performed a poem in front of all the fourth grade parents and three judges. It was a poem about eggs, which were my favorite food. I won first place. Everyone else whispered and stared at the floor; I spoke loudly and threw my arms around. My classmates were terrified to perform, and honestly, it didn’t even occur to me to be nervous until I saw them.

So maybe I learned to be nervous from the people around me in every speech class and audition room. Maybe I was born that way. Or maybe it was a bit of both–something I grew into naturally as a self-conscious teenager and have grown out of as it I get a little older and a little more comfortable with myself.

We shall see, won’t we?

]]>14367An Old Fashioned Christmashttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2012/12/25/an-old-fashioned-christmas/
Tue, 25 Dec 2012 18:39:02 +0000http://www.knom.org/blog/wp/?p=2600This was my second year of being away from my family on Christmas Day. Honestly, I have to admit that this year was pretty hard knowing that I wouldn’t get a chance to see them. When you’re on the phone and you can hear your family together in the background, it certainly makes you second guess the choice not to be there.

Santa came!

But spending a Christmas with the other KNOM volunteers will be something I will remember for the rest of my life – worth the sacrifice of not being at home.

Daynee spent several weeks writing and editing this year’s Radio Christmas Play, an annual tradition for KNOM Volunteers. It was an original play including angels, zombies, and Eva’s entire family. Lucus spent an immense amount of time producing the play after weeks of volunteers, staff and community members recording our parts. None of us knew what the finished product would sound like. On Christmas morning, we all sat around the Christmas tree in our living room and turned up the radio to listen to the final production of “The Elements of Christmas.” I felt like I was living in another era, reminded of times when families gathered around the radio to hear the news, theater, and music. We were all taken back together, sharing in a simple moment hearing our voices, our acting – unsure of what would happen next in the adventure.

Api – a Bolivian drink that’s pretty much purple corn with spices

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the typical Christmas season, I will always remember this Christmas of 2012 fondly: family time around the tree, exchanging gifts, opening presents sent from our families, drinking Daynee’s api, eating homemade banana bread made by Lucus, smelling Eva’s turkey roasting in the oven, and literally rocking around our Christmas tree to Josh’s mix of music. This will always be a Christmas to remember.

Eva making her first turkey

]]>2600Update News: Thursday, April 19, 2012http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2012/04/19/newscast-for-thursday-april-19-audio/
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:16:19 +0000http://www.knom.org/news/wp/?p=159NSB police shoot Barrow man; voters in Holy Cross re-elect city council members; kidnapping charges filed in the death of Samantha Koenig; Alaska Legislature begins special session; Nome’s main runway to close for two weeks this summer; Nome-Beltz Drama Club to present play this weekend; and a Smithsonian researcher will speak about 19th century ivory drill bows and the related oral histories.
http://www.knom.org/news/update-news/2012/04/19/2012-04-19-knom-update-news.mp3
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